By JAN JARBOE RUSSELL, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST

Published 10:00 pm, Thursday, May 15, 2003

The 2004 battle for control of the U.S. House began last week in Austin, Texas -- not Washington -- when more than 50 Democratic state legislators went on the lam to try to kill Majority Leader Tom DeLay's redistricting bill.

What you called those absent Democrats who brought business in the Texas House to a halt depends on where you stand in a country that remains split 50-50, straight down the middle, between the Red team and the Blue team.

To red Republicans, the missing Democrats, who holed up in a Holiday Inn in Ardmore, Okla., were "AWOL Democrats" and "chickens."

To blue Democrats, legislators who denied the 150-member chamber a quorum, they were heroes and dissenters, willing to stand up against the tyranny of an iron-fisted majority.

There's much more going on here than ordinary Texas brag and name-calling, as entertaining as that might be.

This is a national fight with national stakes that was orchestrated by Republican and Democratic leaders. What happens in Texas could determine which political party controls the U.S. House and perhaps the White House.

Currently, Republicans have 229 House members; the Democrats have 205. If DeLay's redistricting plan passes the Texas Legislature, it could cost Democrats as many as seven seats in Congress.

President Bush's chances for re-election would be helped by so solid a gain for Republicans.

Now, we all know that redistricting is an ugly process. It's ugly when the Democrats are in charge, and it's ugly when the Republicans are in charge. However, this year it's even uglier in Texas than usual.

In a nutshell, DeLay is peeved because under the current plan, drawn by federal judges in 2001, Democrats hold a 17-15 margin in the state's congressional delegation.

The way he does the math, since Texas Republicans have won every statewide office since 1998, they deserve as many of the congressional seats as they can get as well.

When it comes to power, DeLay, whose nickname in Congress is "The Hammer," simply can't get enough and has never been subtle about trying to grab more.

Under his redistricting plan, the city of Austin would be cut up four different ways, and one Texas high school in Lockhart would have its baseball field in one congressional district and its football field in another. Nuts, huh?

Ultimately, the Democratic legislators who walked out of the Texas House will lose this war. They are outnumbered, after all, and a redistricting bill that favors Republicans will ultimately pass.

But by walking out last week they won an important strategic battle. First, they delayed the passage of the bill. Second, they revealed DeLay's compulsion to overplay his hand.

That might not help Texas Democrats, but it could help Democrats nationally, if they choose to take up the fight and try similar tactics.

Still, this incident was a reminder that when the Texas Legislature is in session for 140 days every two years, no one's really safe from sudden outbreaks of shenanigans and sheer horse-pucky.

This year, one of my favorite things about the session is how statehouse reporters consistently have described the galleries where lobbyists sit as "the owner's box." That about sums up politics, Texas-style.

It's hard to imagine tougher duty for a vegetarian than inspecting hot and stinky feed lots on a regular basis.

Craddick continued to play hardball all through the session.

When the Democrats went missing, he sent the Texas Rangers to Oklahoma to try to bring 'em back. He also dispatched narcotics agents and state troopers, and had the state's Learjet on standby.

But the Democrats outfoxed him. Oklahoma's governor, Brad Henry, is a Democrat. Henry said he didn't want his law officers to be pulled into a political battle in Texas. It didn't seem neighborly to him, or to his party's advantage.